Capturing urban business portraits for Crimtan in city centre Cardiff
Central Square in Cardiff - perfect setting for capturing some urban portraits for business. You can see Cardiff Central train station in the reflection too 😀
In this latest shoot, I set out to capture the Crimtan team's spirit against Cardiff's urban backdrop. The goal? Craft corporate headshot photos that blend city energy with Crimtan's global character, while avoiding typical corporate clichés.
I sought to strike a balance - achieving business-friendly yet authentic shots that would resonate with a worldwide audience. Here’s how I did it!
Client Overview
Since 2009, Crimtan has steadily grown to be a juggernaut of ‘lifecycle intelligence marketing’. An international powerhouse of advertising with offices from London to Tokyo, they intelligently target users throughout the buying journey using a mix of digital media ad placements and methods.
For this project, I worked with their Cardiff team.
The Challenge
As part of their quest for a cohesive global brand experience, Crimtan wanted professional informal headshot photos for a range of diverse purposes, from HR and events to webinars, social media and beyond. With an emphasis on both landscape and portrait shots, they needed a suite of images per person that permitted flexible cropping for maximum usage.
The brief was clear: the business portraits should radiate a relaxed semi-corporate vibe, a far cry from the stereotypical crossed-arm business person stance against a blurred cityscape. They wanted minimal, urban background distractions with easily replicable clean textures worldwide.
Relaxed, semi-corporate
Minimal, urban backdrop
Easily replicable clean textures
A fresh take on traditional business photography
The Solution
Teaming up with a Crimtan representative, I organised two sets of groups for shooting. Working in smaller groups allows people to not get impatient and also to help encourage each other through the inevitable ‘camera shy’ moments! Crimtan’s vision was for natural, real images in a professional, urban setting, avoiding clichéd corporate stiffness.
Cardiff station and central square became our canvas, each twist and turn offering fresh perspectives while maintaining a unified aesthetic.
We incorporated relaxed poses, capturing candid moments to reflect genuine personalities. The post-production approach was minimalistic with just the removal of the occasional stray coffee cup.
Venturing out on streets and shooting spontaneously is something I rarely do for client projects, but it’s something I always love. Virtual location scouting via Google Maps helped prepare for the shoot, leading the client to wonder if I had prior experience shooting there, given the seamless transitions between scenes that I was able to capture. Personally, it was great to get out into central Cardiff once again to shoot some street photography but this time with willing subjects.
Gallery / Selected Photos
Conclusion
Photographing anyone in the middle of a city can be a daunting task, for the subject or the photographer. Choosing the post-9am rush and pre-lunch crush was an ideal time to capture - limiting the amount of people on the street and helping to make the subjects feel at ease.
The team at Crimtan were great and didn’t let the overt nature of the setting make them uncomfortable, and it’s clear to see how relaxed they are in the final images.
What would I do differently?
Nothing! Luckily, the weather was great as rain may have been the only tricky element. But thanks to the planning, location scouting and the fantastic team, we captured some great company headshots which the company was really happy with.
Seeking similar visual storytelling for your brand or organisation? Please get in touch
